keynote speaker
Keynote Speaker
Switchress Shay Au Lait is an erotic philosopher, performance artist, and business strategist whose work unites intellect, intimacy, and innovation. A ritualist of becoming, Shay speaks on the intersections of power, creativity, leadership, and desire—inviting audiences to transform the way they think, feel, and lead. From corporate stages to cabaret spotlights, Shay weaves sensuality into systems thinking and strategy into spellwork.
Shay’s Speaking Style & Technique
Embodied Storytelling: Shay blends lecture with performance, using movement, breath, and theatricality to anchor complex ideas in felt experience.
Intellectual Seduction: Shay makes theory sensual – merging business frameworks with the language of ritual, identity, and transformation.
Experiential Moments: Audiences may be guided through visualization, journaling, or sensual mindfulness as part of her interactive delivery.
Improvisational Intuition: Shay reads the energetic field of the room, balancing provocation and protection, depth and levity, intellect and instinct.
Shay Au Lait is a nationally sought-after keynote speaker, moderator, panelist, host, facilitator and advocate.
FULL SPEAKER BIO
Switchress Shay Au Lait is a multidisciplinary speaker and storyteller who operates at the edge of the sacred and the subversive. With over 15 years immersed in BDSM, burlesque, and performance ritual, and more than 20 years in business strategy, branding, and communications, Shay is a rare voice in the modern dialogue of leadership and liberation.
Shay’s work sits at the crossroads of sensual intelligence and systems design. Through her distinctive synthesis of erotic wisdom, creative innovation, and embodied strategy, Shay invites audiences to explore how pleasure and power coexist—not as opposites, but as collaborators. She has guided artists, executives, and entrepreneurs in reclaiming their authenticity, articulating their brands, and crafting lives and businesses rooted in desire, discipline, and discernment.
Shay’s speaking style fuses the elegance of ritual with the precision of strategy. Shay delivers keynotes like performances – each one choreographed with emotional rhythm, storytelling, and embodied insight. Whether Shay is deconstructing the politics of pleasure, decoding the poetics of branding, or facilitating a guided moment of collective breath, Shay transforms stages into sanctuaries of awareness.
Shay’s presence is disarming, their language hypnotic, and their thinking disruptive. Audiences leave Shay’s talks both seduced and sharpened—seeing themselves and the systems they inhabit with new clarity.
For institutions, conferences, and communities seeking a speaker who can bridge corporate consciousness, creative process, and erotic awakening, Switchress Shay Au Lait offers an unforgettable portal into power, purpose, and play.
"…Bold, Intelligent, Brash, and Sexy with a dirty mouth."
- Danny Simmons; Co-Founder of Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation
Threads & Themes Shay Explores
The Integration of Opposites: dominance and surrender, intellect and instinct, the sacred and profane. Shay calls this “The Divine Energy Spectrum.”
Erotic Intelligence: using desire and pleasure as a compass for leadership, creativity, and authenticity.
Embodied Transformation: teaching through movement, story, imagination, and sensation.
Liberation through Awareness: unpacking and playing with social and systemic dynamics that shape identity, pleasure, and power.
Sensual Systems Thinking: merging branding, business, and embodiment into cohesive frameworks for human and organizational evolution.
Every system – personal, creative, or corporate – can be restructured through the alchemy of pleasure, presence, and power.
Why Book Switchress Shay Au Lait
20+ years in performance and ritual arts, 15+ years as a professional Dominatrix and brand strategist.
Bridges academic and artistic worlds with clarity, confidence, and sensual presence.
Expert in storytelling, branding, power dynamics, and the psychology of desire.
Creates inclusive spaces that empower marginalized voices and celebrate erotic intelligence.
Ideal for universities, conferences, leadership retreats, DEI symposiums, creative festivals, and wellness institutions.
Shay's Signature Talk Categories
DreamStorming & Creative Libration
Explores: imagination, intuition, and the erotic as tools for creativity and leadership. Shay’s DreamStorming method merges sensuality with strategic ideation. Audiences learn how to access deeper creativity, channel intuition into innovation, and translate pleasure into productivity for intentional, creative, mindful, liberated living.
- DreamStorm Your Life – Living a Life of Your Own Design
- Shadow Play for your Shadow Work
- Boundaries: An Exploration in Expanding Our Relationship to Ourselves and Others
- The Siren and The Wolf; A Story of Origins – Rewriting Our Stories Through Archetypes
- Haptics: Exploring the Power of Intentional Touch
- Sensual, Sexual and Erotic. What’s the Difference?
- The Spiritual Practices: Beauty, Pleasure, and Eroticism
- Embody the Erotic – Presence and Sensuality as a Pathway to Eroticism
- How to Host DIY Workshops, Creative Retreats, and Themed Dance Parties – Secrets to Engaging and Innovative Events
- How To Be The Fatale Person: An Archetypal Exploration
- The Truth About Taboo – An Unapologic Guide To Being Yourself
- Sexy Meditation Tips for a Modern Day Siren
- Capturing Moments: Authentic Storytelling Through Photography and Blogging for Travelers.
SuciaNYC
SuciaNYC is a sex-positive organization committed to the decolonization of Sex, Gender, and Pleasure. They create safe spaces for all humans, with a focus on Black and Brown folks and the LGTBQIA+ family. SuciaNYC was created to promote a version of community & sexuality that is healthy, joyful, pleasure-centered, and fully accessible to all.
A 4-Part “Consent Panel” Series. This series was co-curated and co-led by Suchia NYC & Shay. During the series, Shay served as both a panelist and a co-host.
- The Little Things: Consent in Play
- Consent in Color
- Consent in the Play Space
- Navigating Play Spaces While Single and Solo
Embody the Erotic - Complimentary Virtual Edition
In this 45-minute recorded video, you will experience:
- A succulent LECTURE: Embody the Erotic 101 – an invitation to presence and sensuality as a pathway and portal to eroticism.
- An introductory WORKSHOP on Sensuality – PRESENCE TO SENSE – a guided sensorial mind-body ritual filled with provocative lifePlay (instead of homework) activities and excavation journal prompts for further exploration.
- VETTED LIST of Sensual Enchantments – Prized Possessions and Exquisite Picks of Switchress Shay Au Lait (brands, products, and artists).
- DEFINITIONS of BURLESQUE and performance tips & notes.
- LIGHT KINK & BDSM – Breath play and breath work prompts.
- Sensual grounding techniques INTEGRATED, in real-time
- BONUS TREATS and insight are given into how Switchress uses eroticism as a SpeakEasy Noir teacher, Siren Pack producer, and performer within BDSM, burlesque, pole dance, and theatre.
- BONUS ARTICLE
"Shay Au Lait is a stunning example of what it means to choose pleasure as your path."
- Kit Murray; Activist, Academic, and Entrepreneur
Leadership & Entrepreneurship
Explores: power, presence, and purpose in the modern business landscape. As a founder, strategist, and facilitator, Shay reframes leadership as an act of seduction and service. She invites entrepreneurs and executives to move from performance to presence, from control to communion.
- Ego. Dissent. Transparency – Thoughts on Leadership
- Irreplaceable versus Irresistible
- The Art of Orchestrating Chaos: Project Management as Performance
- B.D.S.M. – Branding. Development. Strategy. and Marketing.
- The Philosophy of Being the Most Productive
- Leading from the Body: Embodied Intelligence in the Workplace
- Creative Capital: Business Basics for Sensual Entrepreneurs
- Social Media and Marketing for Brands & Teams
- Why Networking is Killing Your Business – The Fading Art of Conversation & Connection
- Power, Presence & Performance: Leadership Lessons from the Stage
- From Vision to Vessel: The Project Manager as Producer, Priestess, and Architect
ASTA
American Society of Travel Advisors is a trade association which was formed to represent and defend the business and regulatory public policy interests of travel intermediaries, including travel agencies and tour providers.
Various Panels as part of numerous Annual Global Travel Conventions. During a four year period, Shay served as a moderator, panelist, and featured speaker on the titles below. Shay also co-curated each of the panels and served on the ASTA conference committee.
- Top 5 Ways to Gain and Retain Talent
- Gaining Your Share from the Sharing Economy
- Innovation, Project Management & Staying Relevant in This Ever Changing World
- The Good, the Bad & the Ugly of Social Media: An Essential Element of the Travel Agency Landscape.
"Thank you. That was so many things at once. For me, the most incredible thing was seeing you hosting. That was this culmination of edgy and funny and heart and mission. Like sexy activism. All of that together. That was really special."
- Joe Richman; Founder and Executive Producer of Radio Diaries and Peabody Award Winner
BDSM, Kink & Power Dynamics
Explores: the psychology, philosophy, and artistry of power. Shay demystifies kink as a practice of self-awareness, consent, and communication. She reframes domination and submission as metaphors for leadership, creativity, and exploration.
- Would You Please Speak Your Spells? | The Rhetoric of BDSM and Kink
- Intro to BDSM & Kink: Beginning An Erotic Exploration
- BDSM and KINK for Beginners Who Are Advanced Freaks
- Consent Talks Need to Include Rejection
- Vanilla is a Flavor: You Don’t Have to Be Kinky To Be Freaky
- Gender Roles vs Power Dynamics: Kinky & BDSM Explorations
- What is A Switchress? – Embodying Fluid Freedom
- BDSM Primals – Beyond the Animals
- Bath Maiden 101: BDSM Service Tops
- Pain as Portal: Shadowplay, Spirituality & the Erotic
- The Many Faces of Sadism: Beyond the Whip
Complimentary Keynote Address
In this 20-minute recorded speech, you will experience:
- “Would You Please Speak Your Spells? | The Rhetoric of BDSM and Kink,” a keynote address by Switchress Shay Au Lait. This speech was delivered during “Tongue and Cheek,” which is Queer Positive. Sex Positive. Kink Positive. It’s a speaker series focused on art, science, history, education, and culture within the queer community.
- Experts and amateurs are invited to present on topics near and dear to them! Everyone deserves a voice in this community and it is their goal to create and sustain a kind, inclusive space for these voices.
"Shay is the epitome of empowerment of women and our bodies and sensuality.”
- Allana Pratt; Intimacy and Relationship Coach
Relationship Design & Polyamory
Explores: conscious relating, erotic integrity, and emotional architecture. Shay brings spiritual, sensual, and strategic insight to the complexities of love. Her approach centers communication, boundaries, and the alchemy of multiple truths.
- Curating Immersive and Erotic Date Nights
- Spreadsheets & Spreadeagle – What I Learned From Tracking Every Single Date for 5 Years
- The Erotic Lab: Designing Relationship Dynamics with Intention, Not Assumption
- What Do You Want to Feel Right Now? – A Revoluntiary Approach to Dating, Sex and Relationships
- PolyAm Dynamics: The Alchemical Love Lab
- Achieving Optimal Intimacy through Self Work and Partner Work
- Rebranding Your Dating Life
- Essential Love and Sex Secrets to Take Your Experience to the Next Level
- Protection, Permission and Consent – Conversations to Have with Lovers
- Openly Dating Multiple People
- The Erotic Architecture of Hierarchy
I Am My Own Red Flag – Shadow Work, Self-Awareness, and the Mirror of Love
- Parallel Doesn’t Mean Passive: The Power of Distance in Polyamory
FitSex Education
A moderated panel series within the “Original Walk and Talk” Clubhouse that met daily to assist others on their journeys to total body wellness through fitness and mindful eating. FitSex Education met weekly for a limited series during the first quarter of 2022.
Weekly Sexuality Panel Series. This series was co-curated by Switchress Shay Au Lait, where she also served as a weekly panelist.
- Sexual Depression
- The Anatomy of Flirtation
- I Don’t Want to Because….
- The Will Power of Casual Sex
"Your keynote address yesterday was very powerful and touching! I can’t wait to read your book! Great job, thanks!"
- NM; Event Attendee
Performing Arts, Burlesque & Ritual Theatre
Explores: embodiment, expression, and the politics of performance. As a show producer and performer, Shay frames burlesque as both art and anthropology—a space where gender, class, and power collide. She reclaims performance as a form of personal liberation and collective storytelling.
- What Is Burlesque?: Sacred Theatre and Social Revolution
- Burlesque as an Erotic Healing Art: The SpeakEasy Noir Philosophy
- Producing Desire: The Future of Nightlife as Ritual, Resistance, and Renaissance
- The Pole as Portal: Spiritual Intelligence Through Sensual Movement
- The Art of Embodied Leadership: Lessons from the Stage, Dungeon, and the Divine
- The Primal Erotic: Rewilding Our Bodies in a Civilized World
- The Revolution Will Be Sensual: Burlesque, Blackness, and the Politics of Pleasure
- Erotic Intelligence: A Framework for Creativity, Confidence, and Connection
- The Art of the Reveal: How Stripping Away Layers Heals the Self and Society
- Burlesque as Business Strategy: The Art of Seduction, Storytelling, and Scale
- The Showgirl Manifesto: What Burlesque Teaches Us About Power, Pleasure, and Performance
SpeakEasy Noir Panels
SpeakEasy Noir is a mind-body wellness practice and immersive movement experience for intensely sensuous and deeply curious souls. We explore POWER, PLEASURE, AND PLAY through psychologically thrilling conversations, provocative stories, subversive ideas, and transformative talks.
Various Panels Co-Produced by Shay with SpeakEasy Noir. Shay also curated each of the panels and served either as a panelist, host, or moderator.
- Consentual – A Conversation on Sexual Behaviors, Deviances & Cultural Norms within Subcultures.
- The Mindful Swinger, 5 pt series – Candid, Conscious Conversations about swinging, nonmonogamy, kink, and erotic exploration.
- Speak Play Love – A Conversation on Identity, Awareness, Sexual Liberation and Sexual Revolution.
"Thank you so much for speaking with my daughter and I earlier. It totally meant a lot. You truly have a second calling counseling young girls. Helping talk parents and teens through sex, relationships and intimacy. I'm glad she could get that Siren view. Its funny, but I trust you with her and this topic more than most women ive dated. You know you and are comfortable with sexuality in a way most will never know...."
- M.Dodson; Father & Patron
Advocacy, Healing & Empowerment
Explores: liberation through art, trauma-informed leadership, and community care. Shay’s advocacy weaves erotic empowerment with social justice and spiritual awakening. She speaks to marginalized communities, educators, and leaders about the intersections of healing, identity, and expression.
- Empowered Living – Preventing Childhood Sexual Abuse
- How to Rescue Sexual Assault and Abuse Victims
- The Least of These Things: Surviving versus Thriving
- The Conflicting Nature of Good Touch and Bad Touch
- Your Toolkit to Radical Sexual Agency and Erotic Empowerment After Trauma and Abuse
- Healing from Sexual Abuse and Finding Your Sex Drive Again
- From Shame to Sovereignty: Healing Through Power
- The Erotic is Political: Reclaiming the Sensual Self as Liberation
- Pleasure as Protest: The Politics of Embodiment
"She’s a survivor in every sense of the word. She has one of the most inspiring stories I’ve ever heard when it comes to sexual healing. The way she was able to uncover and reclaim her erotic power after trauma is nothing short of magical."
- Ev’Yan Whitney; Sexuality Doula and Somatic Practitioner
Challenging the Frame of White Fragility
70-minute recorded roundtable via The School of Mythopoetics.
Past Collaborators and Stages
Verizon Wireless • The Rowe Center • National Liberty Museum • Lululemon • Siren Pack • Madame Noire • Institute for Sexual Education & Enlightenment • Soul Fire Retreat • Sucia NYC • Touch and Play Festival • Hotel Revival Baltimore • The Black Kink Network • The Emotional Institute • Earth Dance • Johnny Brenda’s • The Fit Factory • The Poets Den Theater • The School of Mythopoetics • Sex Witch Retreat • Dakini Practitioner Training
Moderator, Panelist and Host
Switchress Shay Au Lait occupies a singular niche at the convergence of business futurism, erotic education, and performance philosophy.
She is as comfortable keynoting a leadership summit or university symposium as she is guiding a ritual performance or creative retreat.
Her hybrid tone—sensual, intellectual, and radical—bridges the erotic underground and the executive boardroom.
Shay has served as a resident panelist & moderator for the following brands & communities.
- The Villain’s Sanctuary – BDSM Moderator, Panelist & Producer
- The Pleasure Journey with Tatiana Carrera – Erotic Moderator & Panelist
- Blissful Risings: Queer Moderator & Panelist
- Small Room. Great Value: Moderator and Panelist
- FitSex Education with Original Walk and Talk: Erotic Moderator & Panelist
Shay has been commissioned as the Host and Switchress of Ceremonies of numerous events within the nightlife, theatre, technology, publishing, and non-for-profit industries.
- Dom of the Dead by Cirqueer Productions – Event Host & Advisor
- Flow State by Siren Pack & Jewelissa – Event Host/MC & Executive Producer
- Siren Pack Productions – Resident Event Host/MC
- Twist by FemDomPhila – Event Host & Performer
- Nightcap Confessions by Madda – Event Host/MC
- High Heeled Hottie Night by Fit Factory – Event Host & Co-Producer
- Ethically Non Monogamous Social Club by Plura – Event Host & Curator
- Move It! by Retro Factory – Event Co-Host & Performer
- Show Your Flow with A Pack of Queers – Event Host & Co-Producer
- Get Lit! literary series with R. House – Event Host & Producer
Special Projects
- Host & Producer – Spreadsheets and Spreadeagle podcast
- Panelist – BDSM/Kink Panel for the Sexual Attitude Reassessment via Institute for Sex Education & Enlightenment
- CoFounder – Sensing Race: Making Sense of Race Through Somatic Play
- CoFounder – The Sensual Race: An Alchemist Summoning
- Co-Lecturer – To Bring the Interior Warriors to Life and Riding the Red, White and Black Horses – “Revisiting Iron John,” a six-part exploration of mythic masculinity for today in collaboration with Ian MacKenzie and the Rowe retreat center
"I wanted you to know that seeing you talk openly about sex and sensuality and intimacy has helped me reach out and ask for what I want. I felt powerful in a way I don’t normally feel these days in my life and it was great. So thank you for sharing some of your journey with the world. It has emboldened me to ask for what I want and have more fun and experience more pleasure in my life."
-Anu Sansi; Life Coach
Ideal Collaborations:
Leadership and DEI conferences seeking nontraditional frameworks of empowerment.
Creative and wellness festivals integrating spirituality and embodiment.
Universities and institutions exploring gender, art, or identity studies.
Private leadership retreats, brand intensives, and thought-leadership summits.
Booking Details
- Format: Keynotes, panels, workshops, retreats, masterclasses, immersive performances
- Audience: Creatives, educators, wellness professionals, erotic artist, entrepreneurs, and liberationists
- Fees: Custom quotes based on format, travel, and time commitment
Testimonials and Reviews
“I’m one of the many who loved your dark humor! You are so damn funny…and inspirational. I have so much more that I want to comment on, but you are the type of person you HAVE to speak to in person because of your energy! Thank you for sharing with all of those beautiful women last night in Round Rock. We needed to hear every last one of you! I went on your website, started reading and could not stop. Look at me, it’s 3:36 in the morning! Anyway, let me know how I stay in contact with you. I just have to stay in contact with people who inspire me; You make me a better and stronger woman. Aren’t I supposed to be teaching you? Oh, well, lessons come in many shapes, sizes, and ages! Stay open and inspired!” – BW; Event Attendee
“I enjoyed your presentation today at the Welcome Home event. You are truly an inspiration. Thank you for sharing a piece of you with us.” – DI; Event Attendee
“Ok….because of you, I have researched Yoni eggs, looked for Tough Mudders in my area, started journaling again, and accepted some ugly truths about myself by doing a deep dive of ME. So thank you for being so transparent and helping me become a better version of myself. I’m growing every day. ❤” – Jessica; Event Attendee
“You’re going to adore this interview, it was profound and a little sexy. Shay Au Lait has an amazing way of explaining how she has taken the experiences she has had through pole dancing, finding her inner sex Goddess, becoming empowered and unafraid to show up and hold her own space, into every single area of her life. It’s amazing. I mean, just look at her website, is there anything she can’t do?” – Allana Pratt; Intimacy and Relationship Coach
“Shay Au Lait is a female power-house of authentic presence who is constantly looking within + inspiring others through her own experiences.” – Megan Monique; Meditation Teacher, Intutive Coach and Entrepreneur
“She’s a friend. A very highly respected friend of mine. ….She’s my idol, actually. I love her. The way she writes the openness of her life. Her sexual encounters. The way that she carries herself. Her business aspect. We share similar paths and bonded over that. I admire her a lot. I never really told her that but she’s changed a lot of things in my life from the way I date to my extracurricular activities. Shay Au Lait is a bold unapologetic woman and I appreciate every word in her world that she shares.” – Notorius Coleman, Lifestyle & Natural Hair Vlogger
“The Last Speaker was….Shay Au Lait. She was an awesome speaker of truth and motivation. She spoke about getting back to your authentic self. This was such a moving and honest talk. I felt everyone was moved in some way.” – Damita Miller-Shanklin; Editor in Chief, Ujima Magazine
“It was a pleasure meeting you yesterday! You really touched me with your words! Blessings” – SH; Event Attendee
“Thank you for your courage and bravery and for sharing your story. You are inspiring and have a powerful voice.” – Alicia Ramsay; Former Editorial Assistant & Contributing Writer for Newd Magazine; Account Manager
“Feel free to take my wife for deep sensual talks anytime! You sent her back stimulated & ready. Much appreciated” – M. Clarke; Husband of Event Attendee
“In so many words, Shay inspired me to become more intentional about my life. She inspired me to actively seek out pleasure in my own life. She called me out on my B.S when I was acting small and not respecting my wants/needs. She has been extremely empathic, allowing me to see parts of herself that related to me when I wasn’t being fair or honest with myself. She answered some questions I had given her regarding a job search that I was undergoing at the time through a live broadcast on Facebook. She told me to be intentional, once again, and inspired me to see myself as a brand rather than just an employee. I followed her instructions, and I was employed shortly after.” – Deanna C; Patron & Community Member
“This was quite informative and I must say that you’re so articulate and a very eloquent speaker. I can listen to you speak because you’re so engaging and you know how to draw people in.” – Marvon H.; Event Attendee
“Yo Shay! We met so long ago at that [event]. I just wanted to tell you that I read your posts all the time. To me, as a man, they teach me so much about women and sexuality on a whole. Honestly, I listen to guys talk about sex and I’m like ‘Dude needs to read Shay Au Lait, no wonder his ex is not around anymore.’ But what’s more is that I think your voice is empowering women. You encourage healthy discourse that gets women comfortable talking about things that they should be anyway. It’s blunt, but damn it, it’s got to be! If everyone could talk about sex that way, I think we’d all be happier. Anyway that’s my deal, keep up the great work! Hope you’re well!” – T.R.; Songwriter